Page:The Story of Mexico.djvu/304



XXVIII.

SANTA ANNA.

story of Mexico becomes so confused after the fall of the Empire of Agustin I. that it is difficult to understand. "Plans," pronunciamentos, revolutions, restorations, followed each other in quick succession. Generals, dictators, presidents, sprang from the soil ready-made, to exercise for a few days their brief authority, and vanish as quickly.

A few prominent names constantly recur, clinging to the wheel of fortune, which turned at that time in Mexico with singular swiftness. Each of these went down one day and the next up. Still with pertinacity they held on, each rejoicing in his own turn at the top, not only on his own account, but in the satisfaction of seeing the others beneath him. In their wild merry-go-round they seem to have lost sight of the value of the position itself, which made the object of their revolutions. Was it a crown, a dictator's chair, the simple dignity of a president's wand of office, they heeded little. The thought of establishing a genuine republic was far enough from anybody's mind in the early days of the century. To guide us through the puzzling labyrinth at this period in Mexican affairs, we will follow the thread of one